Tales of Terror: One More Soul to the Call
by ngrey651
Summary: The house has been abandoned for decades. The little girl lives all alone. And a horrific monstrosity is lying inside, waiting to claim her as it did her family. Only one soul can save her. Only one person can stand up to the darkness. An unusual soul that nobody would expect...


The house on the hill had seen better days, that was for sure. A simple two-floor thing, windows long-broken, moon hanging low over the forest that surrounded it, the nearby town itself quite grateful it was as far away from THEM as possible. The road leading to it was fading and forgotten, leaves scattered along the way inside, seemingly untouched even by the wind. The porch steps were rotten and a foul odor wafted up from a rotting garden to his right as the cloaked man sighed, his gloved hands pulling his hood fully up to disguise himself. He made his way towards the path, not feeling the jagged bite of the icy wind as he pushed the door open, dust being sent flying all before him as he made a few steps forward and glanced about.

There were cobwebs in every corner as the staircase had evidently rotted away almost entirely, mice scattering about from the nests they'd made in the kitchen, every drawer and shelve chewed open long ago. Candles that had been lit in the windows were now lacking in color and mere stumps, barely even able to hold the wick up as the entire house seemed to breathe whenever the wind blew through it. The man "hmmed" as he looked about, taking notice of a painting that had long-since faded on the wall.

Ah. There he was and…ohh, there she was. So that was her? She was positively adorable!

He chuckled at this sight, hearing something else scuttling about. Something…larger than a mouse. He turned, seeing a small, dark-haired, bluish/green eyed child peeking out from behind the nearby doorway, staring up at him. "Um…hello." She mumbled out, her scraggly hair falling all around her sunken face. "Good…good evening, sir."

"You would be the little lady of this house?" The man asked sweetly in an almost slightly echoing tone that seemed to get right inside her head as she nervously nodded, her tiny hands held behind her as she traced a foot on the ground, toes poking through the sandals she had, almost as forlorn as her patchy plain yellow/white dress.

"My, um…my mommy and daddy aren't really in."

"This place is quite…run down. I imagine you can't feel very safe here." He admitted as he walked over to the kitchen were the girl was standing by the doorway, she joining him as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"Well…its my home, I…I can't really leave."

"Where are your parents?" The man asked of her, tilting his head slightly to the side, voice filled with concern as the girl bit into her lip, looking away and to the side.

"My…mommy and daddy were talking about my grandpa. He…stopped talking to my father. Was really into collecting this shiny stuff he used to show me when he stopped by. You kinda remind me of him, but…you're way bigger than he was." She admitted. "And your voice sounds really funny."

He sighed, taking off a glove, the girl gasping at the bony, pulsating, reddish thing beneath. "I was…in a terrible accident. Bandits threw themselves upon me to get at one of my greatest treasures and…they hurt me very badly. So I cover myself like this. Don't want people to get scared."

"…I'm not scared." She remarked with a slight pout. "Not one bit."

"You can't be if you're still HERE." The man chuckled, putting the glove back on to cover up his cruel claws. "I saw the painting, your name's Cassiopeia, correct?"

"My daddy calls me "Cassie"." She murmured, giving the man a nod. "I, um…I don't really know your name. I ought to know your name."

"You may call me "Cee"." The Man said cheerily, giving her a nod, Cassie offering up her little hand and Cee shaking it as carefully as he could. "Come, though. You must be scared living in this house." He remarked, turning to gesture at the front door. "I mean…why have you not le-"

The front door was gone. Bricked up. The windows…vanished. There were no other forms of life in the entire house, the candles had fallen to the ground, the cobwebs swept away, everything was silent, still and without movement but…the house was somehow still…breathing as if somebody was right in your ear. Cee glanced left and right, a noticeable worry in his tone. "This is…what's going on?"

"…I had…I just wanted mommy and daddy to stop fighting and…to just make everything go back to the way it used to be. They were always yelling at each other over grandmpa, over money, over where I was gonna go when I grew up. I…" Cassie trailed off. "…I didn't want that. I just wanted things to stay good the way they used to be. It was so much better…"

Cee understood what she was saying, giving her a gentle pat on the shoulder. "I know. Your parents were no doubt thinking of sending you to the city for an education in a proper school?"

"I don't wanna leave. I like it here. It's my home and I didn't want to change."

Cee knew what she was really saying. Being sent off to the city or the town for a proper education meant more than just leaving home. It was a signifier than her childhood was over. After all…there wasn't a single toy in the house. No discarded dolls…no little books…no things to draw with…nothing.

"Then **he** came and he said he could make sure nothing ever changed." Cassie admitted quietly as she hung her head in shame, covering her face. "But he took mommy and daddy away and…and I haven't seen them in so, so long. I can't get out of this house and everything's all twisty-turny at night!"

THWOMP. The kitchen was suddenly sparkling clean, every pantry stocked full up with food, fresh meat hanging over the sink, a lovely loaf of fresh bed on the countertop as Cassie hopped over to it, taking off a large chunk and biting into it, chewing.

"I don't really need this stuff, I never feel hungry or thirsty but…its just nice to taste it because every time it goes back like this it means the air doesn't taste like spiderweb anymore." Cassie murmured, Cee shaking his head as she offered him a piece.

"No, no, I'm not hungry. You should get some rest, I'll…take a watch and keep an eye out. What does…this "He"…look like?"

"He's big and black and…ugly." She murmured. "And his voice sounds like squashing bugs."

Cee's eyes narrowed. If it was who he thought it was then…

"…he's not touching you." He promised darkly.

_ "I don't understand why I have to go." Cassie mumbled as she laid her hands in her lap, sitting at the table in the kitchen, her father's hair carefully combed as her mother nervously chewed on the end of her ponytail. "And why I can't bring Merry." She added, her mother putting the small doll she had in her hand in her pocket, looking guiltily away._

_"Sweetie, you need to understand. You've a big girl now and you need proper education. So you're to go to school next week with the other big girls, alright?"_

_"But I don't wanna go. Why can't I just stay here?" Cassie asked, her father sighing as he folded his arms across his chest and shook his head back and forth._

_"Cassie, when people get older, they find they have…responsibilities. Things they need to do because its good for everyone else, and in the end, is good for them as well. Like…doing a chore. You don't like cleaning the living room, but if we didn't clean the house, it would get all cobwebbed up and mice would come in, and that wouldn't be good, now would it?" He asked. "I know it's a big change, but this is necessary. Not to mention I'm sure you'll find a fine young boy to befriend in school."_

_"I don't really like the boys…they're not nice."_

_"Sweetie, you've barely seen any from the few times you went into town with us…look, its happening. You need to accept this change, honey, and be a big girl."_

_"But I'm not ready."_

_"You'll just HAVE to be." Her father said, his anger rising slightly up. "Look, life is not going to be "ready" for YOU. You have to be ready for IT!"_

_"You don't need to snap at her." Her mother remarked quietly._

_"She needs to understand this sooner rather than later. This way she'll be prepared." Her father grunted with an annoyed tone, Cassie hopping out of the kitchen chair and making her way to her room, opening up the door and looking about..._

_Where once had been dolls and little toys were now all books. Where once were drawings on the walls with utensils for her craft on the bedstand, now all that was left was absolute emptiness. She hung her head, plopping down on the bed as she wrapped her arms around her legs, shaking her head back and forth. She'd spent hours on wallpapering her room with her beautiful drawings of the forest about her and now…now daddy and mommy just wanted her to go off to someplace she didn't even want to go._

_"It doesn't have to be this way." A voice whispered from under her bed, dark light curling its claws as it took hold of the floor. "…I can fix it for you…"_

Cee awoke, eyes narrowing. There was a…scuttling sound. Something was making its way towards them, fast and powerful, a faint hiss rising through the air. He grunted darkly, gloved hands shaking Cassie away as they turned, the door to the kitchen slowly being pushed open…disgusting, foul roaches slinking in, hissing and screeching, coming closer and closer.

"Salt! We-we gotta get the salt!" Cassie yelled out, racing for the nearby shelf, bounding across the broken, shattered floorboards and reaching into a drawer. She yanked out what had been a large sack of salt as the cockroaches kept making their way towards them, antennae twitching, their hissing cries creating a sick cacophony, the pieces of floor and wall they touched seeming to dissolve and become blood before Cee leapt back, pouring a line of salt around the table that she and Cee climbed onto.

The roaches snarled. They screeched.

But they couldn't cross the salt line, hissing in anger at their denial, the roaches retreated, Cee cringing as he shuddered intensely, wrapping his arms around himself, a burning sensation rising in him before Cassie wiped the salt away and led him out of the kitchen to the living room, Cee slamming his fist into his palm.

"We need to find your parents." He murmured. "Where did they go?"

Cassie bit her lip. "He…He took them. I was out in the woods playing and when I came back…they were gone. I thought they'd come back because everything else that was used up just popped back except the salt but…" She trailed off, Cee seemingly intrigued behind his cloaked hood, the slight tilt of his head giving his mood away.

"Listen, have you been upstairs."

"The roaches always attack me." She murmured. "Drive me back."

"…not this time." Cee promised, holding up his hand and clenching it. "Cassie, take the salt and stay behind me…" he murmured, reaching into the folds of his robe, pulling out a pair of horrific-looking bony knifes, twirling them as Cassie carefully walked alongside him across the rotting floorboards towards the staircase, the hiss of the roaches rising up. He could see them slinking out from the closet across the stairway, Cee spinning the knifes as he glanced back at Cee.

"Climb!" He commanded, Cassie making her way up the stairs as his bony knives sliced and slashed at the insects, their bodies being sprayed out, splashing against the walls. They painted it with sickening, almost human blood and organs, their howls a horrified squawking screech as he continued to carve them up with all the finesse of a butcher, bringing his booted foot down upon one that tried to crawl up his leg, inching his way backwards, ascending the stairs to join Cassie. "Now! The salt!" He said, diving behind her at the top of the stairs as she poured the remainder of the used-up salt down across the stairway, cutting off the roaches as they snarled and screeched at them form behind the line before slowly dissolving away before their eyes.

Cee nodded at her as they made their way towards her parent's bedrooms, the paintings of her family on the wall shifting and twisting, changing into fanged, mocking monstrosities with eyes that followed them, dark, foul inkiness dripping down from the used-up lamps on the walls instead of candle wax. Cee growled as he looked down at the bedroom door…dark, curving claws keeping it in place. "Oh no you don't…" He muttered angrily, bringing his booted foot up. A single, powerful kick SHATTERED the door, sending it flying, a dark, near-endless abyss facing out before them with a small, pale reddish/orange light in the distance, Cee nodding down at Cassiopeia. "Stay behind me but cling tightly to me." He insisted as the dark abyss about them began to expand outward, trying to ensnare them, turning into disgusting, tarry liquid that smelled like melted corpses.

Cee growled at this, slicing with his powerful knives, the tendrils of blackness flying about as they were sliced and slashed, dissolving into disgusting puddles on the floor. They hissed as they dissolved, Cassie cringing in disgust at the sight. "You're scary like dad gets…" She murmured. "He yells at me when I don't listen well."

"Honey, look…your father loves you. Do you know how his father treated him?"

"Sometimes they'd…kinda yell at each other when Grandpa was here." Cassie murmured quietly, looking down at her worn sandals as Cee nodded, caressing her hair with tenderness. "Especially about the thing my Grandpa was collecting."

"Try to think of…a line. A long line of fathers and their children. And every single one of those fathers is passing down a touch. Each of those touches, they're trying to be more and more gentle with each generation. Your father's father tried to pass down a softer touch. And your father is trying for you. You understand?" He asked. "You have to try to know what's in his heart. Even if you can't always see it at first." Cee added as they made their way towards the far-off light in the distance, the house's whispering turning into…thumping. Like the beating of a gigantic heart, a deep, horrific intense heat rising the closer they got to the light.

At last they reached a burning, horrific-looking doorway that appeared to be made of living flesh, Cee pushing it open, a light almost blinding him as Cassie gasped in horror. Her parents were tied up in burning reddish bands, trapped to what appeared to be an enormous heart against a wall of rusted bone, a skullish face high atop the bone, clawed hands curling and uncurling on this living wall as it slowly opened its mouth…and laughed. And LAUGHED. A foul, horrific, high-pitched, cackling screech as it beheld Cee.

"Yooooouuuuu! YOOOOOOUUU! Of ALL…PEOPLE! Yoooooooou. Here? NOW?! You think they will FORGIVE!?" It laughed sadistically, disgusting blackish bile oozing out of its mouth…the wall inching closer, the doorway behind them shutting as Cee realized it intended to crush them, the thumping of the heart getting louder and louder. "Scream and suffer for me! SUFFER FOREVER! This child is mine to torment for all eternity!"

"You took advantage of her fright. You die for that." Cee roared out, pocketing the knives in the folds of his hooded cloak…pulling out a bony, ugly sword and twirling it about as he launched himself up through the air, slicing down on the skull in the wall as it screeched in pain, Cee leaping back up and slashing once more.

"GAAAH!" It snarled, claws curling as oily tendrils lashed out from the ooze pouring from its mouth. Cee ducked, slicing upward with his sword as they tried to ensnare Cassie, who clung tightly to Cee, Cee handing her one of his knives and giving her a nod.

"Don't let them grab you." He said, Cassie nervously holding one of the knives up, another disgusting tendril reaching out, Cassie slamming the knife deep into it with a THUNKA-THRULK, the living wall howling as Cee spun his sword, more of the tendrils flying about before Cee then leapt high into the air, holding the bony sword high, slamming the knife down at the skull, the sword going clean through the top and right out the chin. It let out a final wail of agony…

And with a bright flash of light…

Cassie was now outside of the house, the paint restored, the cobwebs and rodents gone, the grass about the home no longer dead as her parents ran up to her, deeply embracing her and nuzzling her intensely. "Oh, Cassiopeia…"

"Thank goodness you're alive, Cassie. Oh thank GOODNESS…" Her father whispered, caressing her hair, lovingly kissing her atop her forehead as she felt the tender warmth of their embrace comfort her, Cassie returning the embrace with a deep hug.

"I'm so glad you're alright." She whispered out, tears coming freely to her eyes as her parents carefully let go, looking her over.

"How on Earth did you…I mean…that **thing**. How did you defeat it?" They asked before seeing the knife down on the ground by her feet, Cee picking it up and running over to the cloaked and hooded form of Cee off in the distance, giving it back to him as her parents blinked in surprise.

"…do…we know you?" The father asked, tilting his head in confusion as Cee took the knife and pocketed it, looking over at Cee, his tone mournful and sad.

"There's no more need for this…charade. I was able to get this one day. But **only** this one day to see you. I'm sorry I can't stay longer, Cepheus." He admitted. "I'm truly sorry."

Cepheus's eyes widened, the hood of the cloak being drawn back, a burning, helmet-esque head looking back, hearing his father's voice within he and his family's minds as the man that had been Perseus.

"I always loved you, Cepheus. I was just too stupid to show you more." He murmured, before turning around, putting the hood back over his head, as Charade, Servant of Soul Edge, left, heeding his Master's Call.


End file.
